http://articles.philly.com/2012-06-22/news/32353083_1_past-allegations-abuse-penn-state-higher-ups
The Catholic Church, Penn State, and of course, the Watchtower have lied, covered up, and tried to spin their way out of bad PR. In each case, the problem was ‘ institutional loyalty’.
I don’t believe any group is immune, no matter how good their intentions. The actions of one person can undo the hard work of the many for even the best of causes. Perhaps there is some cognitive dissonance at play in this phenomena. It acts as a filter. The Institution can do ‘no wrong’—or the wrongs are minimized. Those who air legitimate concerns are considered ‘critical’ by nature, enemies of the Cause. Those who air concerns themselves become objects of criticism.
I remember when I was DFed and working through an intermediary to get my best friend to look at an important piece of deception that the Organization was perpetrating, one key to its justification of authority. He said to the intermediary, “If he FEELS there is a problem, there are Channels.” Institutional loyalty is the reason many of us are shunned.
These are important lessons to learn, because it is not a Watchtower problem. We can easily repeat these same mistakes.